‘They did exactly what the Nazis did’: Gaza flotilla activists detail abuse during Israeli abduction

Deported activists from a Gaza aid flotilla have detailed harrowing accounts of their abduction, describing being slapped, forced to kneel for hours, drink from toilet water, and subjected to psychological mockery by Israeli guards.

The accounts come from participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla, including Italian journalist Lorenzo D’Agostino, who were among some 450 activists intercepted and abducted by the Israeli military between Wednesday and Friday last week, as their boats attempted to break the naval blockade of Gaza and deliver a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the besieged territory.

D’Agostino described a process of dehumanization that began upon capture and continued through the days of imprisonment. “We were intercepted at 1:58 a.m.,” he stated, recounting how soldiers boarded their vessel, the Hio, with rifles and laser sights pointed at the unarmed crew.

The situation escalated significantly after disembarkation at the port of Ashdod. D’Agostino said an officer immediately twisted his arm to cause “maximum pain.”

He and others were forced to sit on concrete, ordered to keep their heads down, and kicked if they looked up. The activists described a scene of deliberate humiliation, with anything associated with Palestine—including a Somali bracelet—being ripped away and trampled.

According to multiple accounts, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was “wrapped in the Israeli flag like a war trophy,” forced to sit for photos with officers, and subjected to severe cruelty, including being forced to crawl and kiss the Israeli flag.

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“They did exactly what the Nazis did,” said Ersin Çelik, a member of the flotilla. “They publicly humiliated her and targeted her specifically because she’s a well-known figure.”

‘Barbaric’ prison conditions

After border control, where D’Agostino said his Quran was mocked and he was subjected to homophobic slurs over pink wet wipes, the activists were forced to strip to their underwear and transferred to prison.

The arrival of Israel’s so-called national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, signaled a further deterioration.

“He came to Ashdod to make sure we were treated as terrorists. He screamed it at us,” D’Agostino said, adding that immediately after, the activists were blindfolded and bound with plastic handcuffs tightened until they cut into the skin.

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Prison conditions were described as “barbaric.” Abductees were held in freezing and scorching cells, denied sleep, and refused medical care, including for a Turkish former deputy foreign minister with a broken arm and an epileptic prisoner without medication.

Punishments included cells being flooded with bleach and overcrowding so severe that inmates could not lie down.

We were treated ‘like monkeys’

Italian journalist Saverio Tommasi, who landed at Fiumicino Airport late on Saturday, said Israeli soldiers had withheld medicines and treated the abducted activists “like monkeys”, The Associated Press reported.

He added that the Israeli guards mocked the activists to “demean, ridicule, and laugh in situations where there is nothing to laugh about.”

D’Agostino also said that his belongings and money had been “stolen by the Israelis.”

Speaking at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport on his return on Sunday, Italian activist Cesare Tofani said, “We were treated terribly … From the army, we moved on to the police. There was harassment.”

‘We drank from the toilet water’

Malaysian sisters and singers-actors Heliza Helmi and Hazwani Helmi also described “brutal” and “cruel” treatment when abducted by Israeli forces.

“Can you imagine we drank from the toilet water? Some people were very, very sick, but they [the Israelis] said: ‘Are they dead? If not, then that’s not my problem,'” Hazwani told Anadolu news agency after landing in Istanbul on Saturday. “They are very, very cruel people.”

The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of over 50 vessels, set sail from Barcelona late last month to deliver aid to Gaza and challenge what human rights groups have condemned as one of the harshest and most inhumane blockades in the world.

Since Wednesday, the Israeli navy has illegally intercepted flotilla vessels in international waters as they neared Gaza, detaining about 500 activists from more than 40 countries.

Several high-profile figures, including Thunberg, former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, and Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan, were among those abducted.

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